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Cholestasis is characterized by intrahepatic accumulation of bile acids (BAs), resulting in liver injury, fibrosis, and liver failure. To date, only ursodeoxycholic acid and obeticholic acid have been approved for the treatment of cholestasis. As fluorofenidone (AKF-PD) was previously reported to play significant anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory roles in various diseases, we investigated whether AKF-PD ameliorates cholestasis. A mouse model of cholestasis was constructed by administering a 0.1 % 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydroxychollidine (DDC) diet for 14 days. Male C57BL/6 J mice were treated with either AKF-PD or pirfenidone (PD) orally in addition to the DDC diet. Serum and liver tissues were subsequently collected and analyzed. We found that AKF-PD significantly reduced the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bile salts (TBA), as well as hepatic bile acids (BAs) levels. Hepatic histological analyses demonstrated that AKF-PD markedly attenuated hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. Further mechanistic analyses revealed that AKF-PD markedly inhibited expression of Cyp7a1, an enzyme key to BAs synthesis, by increasing Fxr nuclear translocation, and decreased hepatic inflammation by attenuating Erk/-Egr-1-mediated expression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines Tnfα, Il-1β, Il-6, Ccl2, Ccl5 and Cxcl10. Moreover, AKF-PD was found to substantially reduce liver fibrosis via inhibition of Tgfβ1/Smad pathway in our mouse model. Here, we found that AKF-PD effectively attenuates cholestasis and hepatic fibrosis in the mouse model of DDC-induced cholestasis. As such, AKF-PD warrants further investigation as a candidate drug for treatment of cholestasis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors disclose no conflicts., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a clinical syndrome of severe liver damage. HBV infection is affected by N6-methyladenosine (m 6 A) RNA modification. Here, we investigated whether methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3)-mediated m 6 A methylation can affect ACLF. Human hepatic cells (THLE-2) were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce cell damage. Proliferation, apoptosis and m 6 A modification were measured by MTT assay, flow cytometry and Dot blot assay. Our results showed that HBV infection significantly enhanced the levels of m 6 A modification and elevated the expression of METTL3 and mature-miR-146a-5p in THLE-2 cells, which was repressed by cycloleucine (m 6 A inhibitor). METTL3 overexpression enhanced m 6 A modification and promoted mature-miR-146a-5p expression. METTL3 overexpression promoted HBV replication and apoptosis, enhanced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), and repressed cell proliferation in THLE-2 cells, which attributed to repress miR-146a-5p maturation. Moreover, a severe liver failure mouse model was established by HBV infection to verify the impact of METTL3 knockdown on liver damage in vivo. HBV-infection led to a severe liver damage and increase of apoptosis in hepatic tissues of mice, which was abolished by METTL3 knockdown. METTL3 knockdown reduced METTL3 expression and impeded miR-146a-5p maturation in HBV-infected mice. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that METTL3 inhibition ameliorates liver damage in mouse with HBV-associated ACLF, which contributes to repress miR-146a-5p maturation. Thus, this article suggests a novel therapeutic avenue to prevent and treat HBV-associated ACLF., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In an on-going effort to discover metallotherapeutic alternatives to the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, neutral distorted square pyramidal gold(III) coordination complexes possessing 2,9-disubstituted-1,10-phenanthroline ligands {[((R)phen)AuCl3]; R = n-butyl, sec-butyl} have been previously synthesized and characterized. A structurally analogous gold(III) complex bearing a 6,6'-di-methylbipyridine ligand ([((methyl)bipy)AuCl3]) has been synthesized and fully characterized to probe the effect of differing aromatic character of the ligand on solution stability and tumor cell cytotoxicity. The two compounds [((sec-butyl)phen)AuCl3] and [((methyl)bipy)AuCl3]) were subsequently assessed for their stability against the biological reductant glutathione, and it was found that the [((sec-butyl)phen)AuCl3] complex exhibits slightly enhanced stability compared to the [((methyl)bipy)AuCl3] complex and significantly higher stability than previously reported square planar gold(III) complex ions. Furthermore, these complexes were tested for cytotoxic effects against existing lung and head and neck cancer cell lines in vitro. The [((sec-butyl)phen)AuCl3] complex was found to be more cytotoxic than cisplatin against five different tumor cell lines, whereas [((methyl)bipy)AuCl3] had more limited in vitro antitumor activity. Given that [((sec-butyl)phen)AuCl3] had significantly higher antitumor activity, it was tested against an in vivo tumor model. It was found that this complex did not significantly reduce the growth of xenograft tumors in mice and initial model binding studies with bovine serum albumin indicate that interactions with serum albumin proteins may be the cause for the limited in vivo activity of this potential metallotherapeutic., (© 2013.)

A gold(III) complex possessing 5,6-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (5,6DMP) was synthesized and fully characterized using standard spectroscopic techniques, as well as X-ray crystallography and elemental analysis. The complex [(5,6DMP)AuCl(2)][BF(4)] (2) was found to possess a distorted square planar geometry about the gold(III) center, commonplace for d(8) Au(III) cations possessing sterically un-hindered polypyridyl ligands. Compound 2 was evaluated for its potential use as an anticancer therapeutic. It was determined that the complex is stable in phosphate buffer over a 24-hour period, thought it does undergo rapid reduction in the presence of equimolar amounts of reduced glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid. The DNA binding and in vitro tumor cytotoxicity of the title compound 2 were also determined. It was found to undergo weak and reversible binding to calf thymus DNA, and was more cytotoxic towards a panel of human cancer cell lines than the commonly used chemotherapy agent cisplatin. Cytotoxicity experiments with the free 5,6DMP ligand indicate that the ligand has IC(50) values that are slightly lower than those observed for the gold complex (2), and coupled with the fact that the ligand appears to be released from the gold(III) metal center in reducing environments, this suggests the ligand itself may play an important role in the antitumor activity of the parent gold complex., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)